This is the story of how I feel in love with hard rock and heavy metal. It all started when I first heard the melodic, gorgeous intro riffs to No One Like You by the Scorpions, more specifically played by Mathias Jabbs.
Well, to be fair, that isn’t exactly accurate. It all actually started when I entered seventh grade in junior high. In those days (wow, I just typed “in those days”) we had junior highs (7th-9th grades) then high school was (10th-12th). Now in most places it’s a middle school (6-8th) then high school (9th-12th). I had a crush on a boy one grade above me, but actually close to two years older than me. He is a twin, identical in fact. I’ve had people ask of identical twins, “oh, don’t you get them mixed up?” ‘How can you tell the difference?” I get the questions and let me answer for every single person who has dated, loved, and/or married an identical twin. Trust me, mix-ups? I call bullshit. You know your person and identical isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Anyhow, I had a crush in the worst way for a couple of years there. And I never confused the brothers. We “went together” the summer of 1982. That’s what we called it, “going together.” Each generation has their own saying. That was ours. One afternoon, on the phone (a corded, rotary dial phone- old school) he told me he had a song to play for me. The song was No One Like You.
Everything changed for me that day. Not with the guy, although he’s still a dear friend, we broke up within the month. No, with the music. I remember that I was entranced, completely spellbound. I feel in love with a song written by Rudulf Schenker but the lyrics are a love letter from Klaus Meine to his wife Gabi. What I truly fell in love with was the cry of a guitar. (And yes, I know old friends will point out the resemblance between my ex and Matthias Jabbs. Germans. I honestly didn’t see it until much later.) It opened up a whole new world. Matthias Jabbs on lead guitar, those soaring, emotion laden notes…I could have never loved Iron Maiden, Sabbaton, Blind Guardian, Stratovarius, Queensryche without Matthias and his Gibson Explorer. You want to see the difference between a lead guitarist and a rythym guitarist? Watch the below video and see the difference in playing between Matthias and Rudolph Schenker with his Flying V. Even their body language is completely different. Totally fun!
So, here it is…the rock and roll love song that was and still is my gateway drug. Happy Monday, my friends!
P.S. The guy I’m dating now bears a striking resemblance to a young Trevor Rabin which tracks as they are both South African-lol!
